I am having my op on the 12 october and my surgeon said i wouldnt really need any physio after the op but i am increasingle reading that i do!. Ill be interestd to read the article as im preying to be playing football again as soon as possible after the operation.

I had open iguinal hernia surgery in March at Ross Hall Hospital. No ill effects or problems post op. Hoever a week ago severe pain started in the groin area and I basically felt the same as I did pre op. After a meeting with my consultant there no seems a need for a second op as something hasn't worked. While this doesn't scare me I would like to find a person trainer/physio in Glasgow who can guide me back to fitness after this operation. I would welcome any names etc.

Ive read quite a few reports from people who seem to be in quite a lot of pain after the operation. Ive heard that the success rate of the operation is about 80%. Is this true? The only things i cant do is run and play football which is what i love doing but i also do a lot of mountain biking as the gilmours groin doesnt affect my cycling (does this sound typically right??).

Just thought I would let people know of my experiences with regard to gilmore's groin. After physio consultation I was referred to consultant who has extensive knowledge of dealing with this problem. At the consultation I was asked to remove tracksuit and lie on a bench - within seconds of my bum hitting the bench, and before palpatating the area the consultant had made an initial conclusion that I had gilmores groin. Then he continued the consultation by palpatation and asking me to cough and if I had any feelings of discomfort whilst doing so. He followed up his initial conclusion then by saying that indeed this is what I had - gilmores groin. He then scheduled me for surgery.

Jump forward 3 months - in hospital for surgery - pre-op checks revealed I had a heart murmur - so they sent me down for a scan - scan revealed I had murmur, that this was quite common, and surgery could proceed without any problems. Back up to ward - the delay in having the scan meant I lost my place in a busy hospital so they sent me home and rescheduled for another day.

Another month down the line back in for surgery - the doctor(not the same as the initial consultant) who was to perform the surgery came in for pre-op consultation. He performed same process as as the initial consultant and came to the conclusion that I did not need surgery. So mixed feelings at the time - glad I was not going to have surgery, but confused as to where this left me with groin problem. I re-scheduled another visit to the initial consultant to try to resolve the problem. At this second consultation with him, he agreed that I did not have gilmores groin and that 'it seemed to have cleared itself up'

So my problem with all this is

1. How can a high level consultant used to diagnosing and repairing gilmores groin (I know he deals with this syndrome both in NHS and private capacity with high level athletes in my part of the world), a) have me diagnosed just by looking at me before palpatating b) follow this up by verifying with palpatation and other means and then on this basis schedule me for surgery.

2. If it were not for the heart murmur, I would have had surgery for a problem which subsequently 'seemed to have cleared itself up' or at the very least had myself opened up before they found out there was no problem.

So I know this not may not be very helpful for people with this problem or about to undergo surgery for gilmores groin, but in my experience it is very worthwhile looking at alternative consultations or other routes before surgery is considered. I know surgery is relatively cheap (compared to other types of surgery), can be quite non-invasive, and has quick recupperation but I would be wary of any expert consultations. Yes surgery may be appropriate for some individuals but it may be worhwhile dealing with the problem by allowing rest, and seeking to strengthen and increase the mobility of the lumbo-pelvic hip complex. Possibly the reason why many people present with this problem may be due to movement control in this area and a lack of strength and movement control in this area when performing their sport. Indeed following surgery if the individual does not address the issues which may have caused the initial injury they may be predisposing themselves to subsequent injury in this area.

These are just my experiences and thoughts in this area. At the time of my initial problem I was playing competitive soccer and training regularly, now i don't have such a high training workload and do not experience any problems.

In addition with regard to specialised clinics and doctors dealing with this problem, I would ask people to remember that they may be commercial operations which have an interest in advocating surgery - I'm not saying that they unnecessarily schedule surgery when none is needed, rather that they are set up on the basis of using surgery as the most effective tool for remedying this problem, when other routes may be just as good if not better.

Thats an interesting point because there seemed to be conflict of opinions when seeing different consultants. I paid ?1,000 to see 3 different top consultants and they all thought my condition was to do with cartlage tears in my hip...one even diagnosed this from an mri scan i had. Then when i had a camera inserted in to my hip they said in fact there was nothing wrond there. So after eliminating the problem I went on to the NHS as i couldnt afford nay more private healthcare. I got passe around the midlands from one person to another. One consultant told me gilmours groin was just a myth and there was no evidence to say it was a a condition...and then a few weeks later another one said ive got gilmores groin!! A bit worrying as he refreed me straight to surgery then. No one has ever suggested any physion and strengthening of core etc but i dont think this would help. ive had the condition for 3 years now and i stopped sport completely for about 6 months and it didnt go away. So i do what i can now on the bike and am just hoping the doctros get it right when they do operate. Has anyone reading this had a completely successful gilmours groin operation?

I had sports hernia/sportsman's groin surgery with the renowned
Dr. Muschaweck in Munich, Germany.

Suffice it to say...I do NOT recommend that you see her for any surgery.

It's been over a year since my surgery and I am still in pain; and the only thing you will hear from her is to take more vitamins and take more pain killers. She'll also sprinkle in a dose of "go get some more physical therapy done."

Absolutely horrible...and unacceptable.

If you would like more info about my experience, please private message me here.

Hi Davie, I'd really appreciate it if you could post some of your rehab exercises.
I had laprascopic inguinal repair 5 weeks ago. I was given little advice on my recovery stages by anyone at the hospital so I've been regularly visiting my GP but still without too much advice.
I started some light jogging after about 3 weeks and increased my running to a decent pace for about 40 mins all without pain.
I play semi-pro football and having been out since Nov I'm desperate to get back. I took part in my teams warm up at their last game but I'm now getting some pain much like I had pre-op and was a bit worried the op hadn't worked. My GP just says to continue with low impact exercise for another 3 weeks but I think there could be more I could be doing to help my recovery.
Any tips or advice would be great!

I had the surgery yesterday for Sports Hernia / Gilmore's Groin on both sides. I wasn't given any advice on what to do over the next couple of weeks. Does anyone have any rehab exercises I can / should be doing. I read that I should walk 5 times per day. I looked on the Gilmore's Groin website but the information was fairly sparse - unless I missed the info (?). Any advice / information would be much appreciated. I am due to see the specialist in 2 weeks time but it seems a long time to go without any advice or direction. Should I be stretching / should I not, should I be resting should I not. When can I drive? When can I return to work and so on?
Pain is quite bad without pain killers but I have been given Diclofenac and Solpadol (Cocodamol) and this seems to make the pain acceptable (considering I've just had surgery). Can't wait to get back running again any advice that would speed that up would be appreciated.

Does everyone find it a bit bizarre that the doctors do not offer any advice for rehab exercises..surely they should be doing this as part of their job and expertise? Im due to go in in 4 weeks now and would also love to see a good rehab programme to get me running and playing football again as soon as possible. Hope the pain gets better tricky!

I had a Gilmore's groin op at Gartnavel last week, the surgeon was Kingsmore although it was supposed to be Byrne (who my doc said is an expert on this type of injury). At the outpatient consultation I was misdiagnosed with an inguinal hernia but the surgeon spotted the error before we started. Am now on day 9 of recovery, took the steristrips off yesterday and incision looks ok. Fair bit of bruising and swelling and sometimes some sharp jabs of pain from the incision. So far I can manage to walk for 30-40min but leg feels a bit stiff. Hope to resume some gentle running in a straight line at end of the second week, aiming to race a 10k in mid-November. Thanks to df7 for his informative posts.

I was admitted for an inguinal hernia repair but the surgeon examined me before we went in and said it wasn't a hernia but the lump in the groin I had was probably gilmore's groin. He queried why the previous consultant hadn't ordered a scan for me. But the pain I was getting when I ran was a sharp jabbing pain in the groin just where the lump was and he admitted he couldn't say what the cause of that was! When he opened me up he said he found some weakness in the muscle there so he put a Lichtenstein's mesh in to strengthen it, I assume he didn't find any actual muscle or ligament tears. Hope that answers your question.

I picked up these notes from the runnersworld forum, they have more detail than what I got from the hosp but won't be enough for some, or non-runners!
I am ahead of this schedule on the walking but the running advice sounds good.

first week walk 10 minutes 4 times a day
week two was 2 half hour walks 4 days in the week.
week 3 jog in straight lines,
week 4 run in straight lines and jog round corners.
week 5 normal activities allowed with care.

this makes sense to me as I did my groin doing a track session where you are continually cornering on your left leg which is where I got the injury.